


a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

by despainx



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Clouis, F/M, Fluff, Tongueless Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 12:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19150771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/despainx/pseuds/despainx
Summary: A tongueless Louis finds himself tired of just writing notes for Clementine. So with the help of Tenn, he tries to express his feelings for her in a new, different way.





	a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys, this is my second story on here. if i’m being completely honest, i don’t think my writing is that good but, writing makes me really happy and i hope my writing makes other people happy too. enjoy :)

        A few months had passed since the raider’s attack. The long, hot sunny days had soon been transformed into chillier and windier ones, the leaves started falling from the trees and turning into different shades of mahogany, at least that was how Louis liked to call the beautiful color that reminded him of the autumn.

        Not only the season and weather had changed. Unfortunately, the kids had to deal with a few losses. Mitch. Willy always sneaked out in the middle of the night to sit by his grave and speak a few words to his former friend. He thought no one knew but, all of them did. Ruby was the first one to notice it, when some night she went out to get some fresh air and saw the boy sitting down criss crossed in front of his grave. Eventually everyone found out, and they offered him all the support he needed. After all, he was just a kid. They all were. Violet. Clem and Tenn were the ones who most mourned her, maybe out of guilt for their lost friend and protector, respectively. Louis missed her the most though, he missed her sarcastic remarks, odd sense of humor and he missed making her roll her eyes and let out a snicker at him.

 

        And just like Clem had to get used to only having one leg, Louis had to be used to not having his tongue anymore, and not speaking, singing or letting out his once typical sly joke. Just being himself in general was a tad hard for him at first. But each day he found himself improving, being stronger. He had to, he had to be strong for his friends, for AJ, for Clementine.

 

        It didn’t take long for him to realize he had fallen in love. One time, he had one of the most disturbing nightmares of his entire life. It was so real, like he was in the boat again. The walls seemed as old and filthy as he remembered, the dark, sinister room swayed side to side slightly, making him feel dizzy and a bit nauseous. Exactly like the boat. After waking up, wheezing for air, he debated internally with himself about going to Clem’s room for comfort or not. His pride lost the debate. Sobbing as quietly as possible, he knocked on Clem’s door, and he ended up staying there for the night. Not once, not twice, it became a habit for them to sleep together. And in one of those breezy autumn nights, the teenage couple was cuddling on her bed, her head resting on the crook of his neck, arms wrapping around his torso tightly. Since AJ was sleeping in Tenn’s room for a sleepover that night, both of them were cackling in laughter about something, not being worried about waking anyone up. If he was being completely honest, he didn’t even remember what they were laughing about, or if it was actually funny or not. But when he saw her wide grin, honey colored eyes sparkling in genuine happiness, something clicked inside of him. His feelings for her weren’t just the rose colored glasses of lust, or a simple high school crush, it was love. Her being happy made him happy, and deep inside him he knew he would do anything to make her feel like that again.

 

        Everyday he wished he could say it. I love you. He had written it through notes of course, and she would always write it back with a tiny little heart by the end of it or even say it out loud but, it just didn’t feel the same. He wished he could tell her how beautiful she was every time she felt self conscious because of her stump or any of her scars. He wished he could say how she shouldn’t doubt her decisions, because he trusted her with his life. He wanted to truly show her how gorgeous, smart, funny, badass, she was, and how much she meant to him. One day, he found himself tired of just making notes, he wanted to do a bigger gesture for her. He could write her a song, but since he couldn’t sing it, it would be basically poetry, and as much as he was the cheesy romantic kind of person, he wanted to do something different, special even. An idea popped into his head while he was watching Tenn and AJ babbling, both sitting down on one of the picnic tables on the outside area. AJ slided a piece of paper on the table for his friend on the other side, beaming, and that was when Louis decided; _”I’m gonna make her a drawing. I used to draw a lot when I was a kid, so it shouldn’t be that hard. I’m just gonna ask Tenn for help.”_

 

        Louis got up from the worn out leather sofa, strolling over to the young boys’s table. As soon as he sat down next to AJ, he grabbed his block of notes and black pencil out of the pocket of his jacket, putting them on the wooden table. He started scribbling, and then placed the note on the center of the table.  _“Hey guys, watcha up to?”_

 

        AJ tried to read it, but Tenn read it out loud before he could finish the sentence, making the younger one nod with gratitude. “Tenn was teaching me how to draw houses, look! It’s our purple house!” AJ exclaimed, flipping the paper and pointing to the messily drawn house colored in lavender. The lines weren’t straight, and the format of the house itself was questionable, but he could definitely spot some improvement.

 

        Louis started writing again, a small smile escaping his lips after seeing his heartwarming drawing.  _“Wow little man, Tenn taught you well. You sure got some real talent. Show it to Clem later, I’m sure she is gonna love it too.”_

 

        This time, AJ managed to read the note, and he just grinned at the teen, as he continued coloring the unfinished parts with the lilac pencil, but was soon interrupted when he heard Clementine, who was talking to Ruby on the little stairway to the entrance of the admin building, calling him. “Coming!” He yelled and scampered to her direction, carrying the drawing with him. That was Louis’s chance.

 

        Louis started scrawling, then passed the note to Tenn, who was sitting in front of him.  _“So, I’ve been thinking about doing something especial to Clem, ‘cause I think she deserves it and I had this idea of drawing her. Would you mind helping me out, maybe teaching me something?”_

 

        The older boy watched impatiently as Tenn’s dark eyes scanned the note. His eyes suddenly stopped, and his nose scrunched up in doubt for a second. “Hm, I think I can help you. Do you want to do like a portrait, or full body?”

 

        Louis just pointed to his own face, moving his finger in a circular motion, while mouthing “portrait”. He would have liked to draw her from head to toe, but he assumed it would be too complicated for a beginner.

 

        “I’m not that good at drawing faces but, I can try.” Tenn patted a spot on the bench next to him, encouraging Louis to sit by his side. He did, he sat down besides him while Tennessee ripped two papers out of his sketchpad, placing one in front of him and another one in front of Louis. He started by drawing a circular shape with a regular black pencil, erasing the extra lines turning it into a cleaner circle. Then, started to make an inverted triangular shape underneath it, somehow turning the sketch into an oval format.

 

        Louis was fascinated, yet the same time confused by the young boy’s drawing. _”An egg?”_  He wrote on the block of notes, and as soon as Tenn read it, he burst out in laughter.

 

        “No, I’m just starting by making the head shape. I just do a circle and then make the jaw,” Now that he mentioned, Louis could see that it was a head in a 3/4 angle, not profile but also not looking forward. “I made it pointier because Clem’s jaw is like, sharp. Not that sharp but, sharper than average. I didn’t mean to sound rude by the way, Clem is pretty.”

 

_“Don’t worry buddy, she sure is beautiful.”_  After writing, Louis soon began to start his own drawing. He followed Tenn’s instructions, first by trying to make a circle, and then the jaw. It didn’t look too bad so far. Erasing the extra lines, Louis actually felt proud of the shape, it looked a lot like Tenn’s. The only difference he could spot was that, Tenn’s one was lighter, while his was darker, indicating that he was applying too much pressure on the pencil.

 

        “Okay so, next, I’m gonna make some lines to define where the eyes, nose and mouth are gonna be. I just draw a vertical one to divide her face in half, and a horizontal one in the middle.” He continued explaining, as Louis followed each of his steps accurately.

 

        In the end, Louis was pleasantly surprised with the result. It resembled her, but also looked cartoony in a way. He thought he did well, he just thought the eyes looked odd, a bit too wide for her face and also kind of droopy, and also the ears, they just didn’t look like ears, but Tenn assured him both eyes and ears were complicated to draw, comforting him slightly. Besides that, Tenn could definitely see that Louis had natural talent, and if he practiced more he would be a pro. But, even though Louis was happy with it, something was oddly missing.

 

         _“Thank you so much Tenn. I enjoyed drawing with you and learning your tricks a lot, maybe I can have another lesson someday?”_  The dreadhead handed the note to Tenn, who seemed satisfied just by teaching him something and it turning out successfully.

 

        “You’re welcome. Also sure, just say when and I can teach you. I hope Clem likes the drawing.”

 

         _“Me too, buddy.”_ Louis scribbled before getting up and heading to the admin building, meeting Clem and Ruby on the way.

 

        “Hey, Lou,” Clementine balanced herself on her tiptoes while clinging to her crutches to kiss him softly on the cheek, making him giggle. Ruby muttered under her breath, maybe ‘lovebirds’ or probably something along those lines. “Have you seen the drawing AJ made, of our purple house?”

 

        Grabbing his block of notes again, he started writing.  _“Yeah, AJ is a true artist.”_

 

        Clem chuckled, and Louis took his time to take a good look at her. When he saw her face again, his opinion of his drawing completely changed. It didn’t look like her at all. He couldn’t spot what about her looked different on the drawing but, now when he remembered it, it just looked dull, without life.

 

        The unsatisfactory feeling of failure bothered him for the next couple of days, but the more bothered he became, more he realized what was missing. More he realized details of her he hadn’t really noticed before. Her eyes were shinier than he remembered, she had those adorable stray curls sticking on her forehead and escaping of her growing side ponytail, her nose was round, and had a button shape, she had a tiny scar on her forehead, just above her well defined eyebrow. All those details seemed so small but they were all perfect to him.

 

        Louis finally decided to give it another shot. He had asked Tenn to borrow a piece of paper and his eraser, and found a black pen in the headmaster’s office, or former Marlon’s office, he would use it just to outline some parts to make it stand out. Taking the supplies out of his pocket of his trench coat, he started sketching again. This time, he tried to do it more on his own style. He still followed all of Tenn’s tips, but adding his own touch to them, and never forgetting all the tiny details that made Clem especial.

 

        Folding the drawing and placing it back into his pocket, he meandered out of his, Clem’s and AJ’s shared room, to the courtyard, spotting his girlfriend sitting on one of the picnic tables by herself. When she saw him, she smiled radiantly at him. Louis sat down by her side, and almost immediately, he grabbed the folded drawing and handed it to her anxiously. He deeply wished it would make her happy, as happy as she deserved to be. He knew, or at least hoped, that she wasn’t going to judge him, but he couldn’t help feeling nervous, heart pounding inside his chest, and gentle shaking of his right leg.

 

        Clementine raised an eyebrow, letting out a small gasp as she read what was written on the folded outside with the cursive handwriting.  _“Dear Clem, I made this because you’re more than watever word could describe. You’re indescribable. And a picture is worth a thousand words, right?  It’s far from perfect but I really hope you like it. -Louis :)”_

 

        Opening up the paper, she was rather stunned by the view. It looked like her. It truly did. She could recognize her button nose, which she was never really fond of, her small scar on her forehead, her stray curls which she always thought it made her look like a mess, hell even some dirt marks around her face. He made those things she disliked look beautiful. That’s how he truly saw her through his eyes. It didn’t look too realistic, more of a cartoon style like Tenn’s but still different from his style somehow. He even tried to shade! It didn’t work too well but he tried it! But what stood out the most to her was the many musical notes drawn in pen around her head, surrounding her, and a little phrase on the bottom left of the paper, saying _“Your laugh is like music to my ears.”_  God, he was so cheesy, but she adored it. She adored him. Just the fact that her boyfriend made all of this effort to make her happy made her heart swell. She really was lucky.

 

        “Louis, you did this for me? I- I love it. It’s so beautiful!” She basically threw herself into his embrace, almost making him loose balance and fall off the bench. Staying there for a while, with her face buried in his freckled chest, she mumbled: “I love you.”

 

        Louis pulled away, the biggest grin she’d ever seen on his brushed in pink, freckled face. “I love you too.” He mouthed.

 

“Guess both of my boys are artists now.” She teased, a side smirk plastered on her lips.

 

         _“You know it.”_  He scribbled, right before both of them fell into a fit of laughter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
